National Republican., 1887-02-07
PILLARS OF SMOKE.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SMOKE Is
WONDROUS.l
For Many Centuries the Heavens Have
Been Black with tho Smoke OF Mar
tyrdom-suiferinss the Church of God
Has Endured.

BROOKLYN, Feb. 6.-To-day was moving day
in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, as tho annual
pew letting has just occurred and many have
changed places This church combines the
two plans of pew rental and free church. The
rented pews this year yield an advance on all
previous years. so that the income will be
about $50, ,0O0. But about 1000 sittings are al
ways kept free, SO that no one may complain
that he cannot worship here for lack OF means
This morning Prof. Browne rendered IN organ
solo, first sonata In d minor, by Ritter, and
the congregation sang the hymn:
"Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come.'
The subject of the sermon was "Pillars of
Smoke" and the text was taken from Solo
mons song. ch. iii, v. 6: "Who is this that
cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of
smoker" DIR. Talmage said
The architecture OF the smoke Is wondrous,
whether God with his finger curls 1t into
cloud. or rounds 1t into dome. or points II in
text, hoists 1t in pillar. Watch y winding up
from the country farm house In the early
n0IniPhg showing snat he pastoral 9lo tSs
chimneys of the city. telling of Z 10 homes fed,
the factories turning out valuat o fabrics, the
paper, aud ali the 10000 wheels OF work In
motion. on clear day this vapor spoken OF
mounts with snch buoyancy, aud spreads such
a
graceful lines OF circle and semi-crcle, and
waves, aud tosses, and sinks, aud scars, and
scatteIs with such aflluence Of shape, and
color, and suggestiveness, that If you have
never noticed Ii you are like man who has
all his life lived in Paris and yet
never seen the Luxembourg, and all his life in
life al T IocSport e' and never seen Niagara
Forty-four times the Bible speaks of the smoke.
and II Is about time that somebody breaches
sermon recognizing this strange, weird. beau
charming
vapor. Across the Bible sky floats the smoke
of Sinai, the smoke of Sodom. the smoke OF
cahic hills when God touches them, and in my
text the glorious Church of God coming up out
OF the wilderness like pillars of smoke.
my text indicate 0Si the snss suffering the church Of
God has endured. What do mean by the
chuIchg mean not building, not sect,
ali beliefs love God and are trying TO do right
For many centuries the heavens have been
black with the smoke OF martyrdom. III set
side by side you could girdle the earth with
the fires Of persecution. Rowland Taylor
burned at H6deigh, Latimer burned at OK
ford, John Rogers burned at smithheld. John
burned at Constance, Lawrence Saunders
burned at Coventry, Joan Of Arc burned at
Rouen. PToteslants have sometimes pointed
ns aSa Ssvs pY M
famous cruelties. The Catholics during the
reign of Hunneric were by Protsstants put to
tue WORST tOrtuTes' htrippeu OF tllelr ciutulug'
hoisted In the air by puleys with weights su|.
pended from their feet, then let down, and
ears and eyes, nose and tongue were
amputated, and red-hot plates of
iron were put against the tenderest
part ofiheir bodies. George Bancroft, the his
.oiian, says OF the state Of Maryland; "In the
land which Catholics had opened to Protest
ants mass might not be said publicly; no Cath
ole priest or bishop might utter his faith In a
Yoiceof persuasion; no Catholic might teach
the young. II a wayward child of a papist
would but become an apostate the law
wrested for him from his parents share OF
their properly, Such were the methods
adopted TO prevent the growth Of popery.''
Speaking of Ireland, Bancroft, the historian,
Gays: such priests as were permitted TO re-.
side in Ireland were required to be registered,
and were kept like prisoners at large within
prescribed limits. All llpapists exercising eccle.
Aiastieal jurisdiction, all monks, iriars and
regular priests, and all priests not then ac.
tually in parishes and TO be registered were
banished from Ireland under pain of transport
tation, and, on return, OF being hanged, drawn
and quartered."
Catholicism as well as Professionalism has had
its martyrs. II does seem as If when any one
sect got complete dominancy In any land the
devil OF persecution and cruelty took posses
sion OF that sect. Then see the Catholics after
the Huguenots. See the Gentiles after the
Jews in Touraine, where a great pit was dug
and ire Lighted AZ the bottom Of The pit, and